8 Out of 10 US Cosmetics
Buyers Want to Import Korean Beauty Products
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KITA’s
New York Center conducted a survey of the buyers who participated in the
International Beauty Show in the US -
It appears that
Korean companies need to make more active entry into the US market as more than
80 percent of American cosmetics buyers want to import Korean beauty products.
The New York
Center of the Korea International Trade Association (Chairman, Kim In-ho)
conducted a survey of 105 US buyers who visited KITA’s promotion booth in the
International Beauty Show held in New York for two days from March 12th
to 13th. The survey was designed to evaluate the awareness of Korean
beauty products (basic cosmetics, makeup products, cosmetic devices, etc.) and their
competitiveness.
The survey results
shows that 81 percent of respondents (10 percent of them is currently importing
Korean products and 71 percent of them is considering for future imports) are
willing to import Korean beauty products, based on their excellent quality and
price competitiveness. The main reasons for the US buyers to deal with Korean
companies are quality and price satisfaction (59%). By category, basic
cosmetics (37%) appear to be the most competitive, followed by hair products
(23%) and make-up cosmetics (21%).
According to the
survey, the first thing that the US buyers consider when they choose a business
partner (for imports) is the quality of the products (64%), and the price (11%)
and reliability of the partner (11%) are also important considerations. In
order for Korean companies to expand their exports to the US, 54 percent of the
respondents said that publicity and marketing activities should be
strengthened, and 23 percent of the participants suggested that new product
development were required in line with market trends.
In particular, as
the US buyers prefer to participate in exhibitions in the US in order to find
their business partners (54%), Korean companies need to not only carry out
publicity and marketing activities utilizing e-commerce but also actively
participate in exhibitions such as beauty shows held in the United States.
Meanwhile, Korea's
exports to the US in 2016 decreased by 2.6% to 69.9 billion dollars from the
previous year, but the exports of cosmetics (based on HS code 3304) increased
by 46.1% to 300.17 million dollars year-on-year.
Park Sung-hwan,
head of the New York Center of KITA said "As a number of US buyers have
expressed their willingness to import Korean cosmetics products, the exports of
cosmetics will continue to increase." He also added "The Korea
International Trade Association will actively support the 2017 New York beauty
products showcase, market research and discovery of new buyers who are
interested in Korean beauty products, and provide consultation matching service
to help Korean cosmetics companies to make inroads into the US market."
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